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Topic: Forest Fires- 4th Grade
Objectives: Students will be able to give two reasons for forest fires.
Students will analyze a photograph and poster dealing with forest fires.
Students will use inference skills to determine the message of the poster.
Students will create a poster to convey a message about forest fire prevention.
Materials
Poster- Taken from Library of Congress
external image moz-screenshot.jpgFire_Poster.jpg

Picture- http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/dig/aep2003/aep-azs176.jpg
Wildfires by Taylor Morrison
Paper
Colored Pencils
KWL charts
NARA Photograph sheet
Procedure
1. I will pass out KWL charts to the class. I will introduce the topic of forest fires. Students will take a few minutes to record their thoughts in the first column. Then they will share their background knowledge with the class. I will ask students what causes fires, what are the effects, and how can people prevent them. Students will discuss and add any new knowledge to their charts.
2. I will ask students what they would like to know about forest fires. As a class we will record questions we have about forest fires on our KWL sheets.
3. I will read Wildfires to the class. I will ask students what they learned from the story. Students will be encouraged to add some items to their KWL chart. We will look over the questions we had and see how many were answered.
4. I will show students the poster on the smartboard. I will have them use the SEA method to analyze the poster. Students will work in pairs and I will guide them through each step of SEA.
5. Questions to ask- Who was this poster created for? Who created this poster? What is the message of this poster? Why is this poster important? Why are some of the words written in orange? What does the cigarette represent in the poster? Where might someone have put this poster?
6. I will introduce the photograph of a forest that recently had a fire. I will place students back into groups and have them fill out an adapted NARA photograph sheet.
7. As a class discuss results from our NARA sheets. Ask students what they have learned from the poster and photograph.
8. Ask students to share what they have learned about forest fires today. Allow time if students want to add any new information to their KWL charts. Discuss where we might find answers to questions still on the chart.
9. Students will create their own poster that delivers a message about forest fire prevention. I will remind them to think about whom the audience is and what message they want to deliver.
10. Students that finish early may share their posters with the class.

Tina,
I like how you guide the students into figuring out why there are words written in orange and what the cigaretter represents. I think this will help them in creating their own poster and including symbols to show the students that everything doesn't have to be all written out in words to get their meaning across.
Jeanine